Football Recruiting Report
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
By
Sammy Batten |
|
Class of 2014
off to 'big' start
Britt offensive
lineman Erickson commits to Pirates
By
Sammy Batten
©2013 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Kyle Erickson knew East
Carolina had an interest in his football talents. But Erickson was still
surprised earlier this month when the Pirates offered him a scholarship.
"They were in contact
throughout my junior season with flyers and letters,'' Erickson said. "But
we had never talked on the phone or emailed very much. Then, the offer came.
I was a little surprised. I wasn't really sure how serious they were about
recruiting me.''
Once he figured out how
serious ECU was, it didn't take the 6-foot-4, 285-pound offensive lineman to
get serious about the Pirates.
Erickson, who plays at Jack
Britt High School in Fayetteville, took less than two weeks to accept ECU's
offer. He gave his pledge Saturday before the annual Purple and Gold
scrimmage to head coach Ruffin McNeill, making him the first member of the
Pirates' recruiting Class of 2014.
"I went up there for a
scrimmage two weeks ago and just fell in love with it,'' Erickson said. "I
already had it planned to commit when I went back for the spring game.
"Coach McNeill actually called
me into his office before the game, and I committed. He gave me a big hug
and was really excited. I was the first one, so he was pretty happy.
McNeill wasn't the only coach
excited about Erickson's decision.
Jack Britt coach Brian Rimpf
is a former East Carolina offensive lineman and two-time Pirate team
captain. Rimpf, who played under both Steve Logan and John Thompson at ECU,
logged 40 career starts, including 37 straight between 1999 and 2003. Three
times he earned first-team All-Conference USA honors after making the
All-Freshman team in 2000.
Rimpf didn't attempt to
influence Erickson's decision, despite his ties to ECU. But he was proud to
be sending a quality player to his alma mater.
"By no means did I pressure
him into the decision,'' said Rimpf, who led Jack Britt to the state 4-AA
finals in his first season. "But I did speak to my personal experience (with
ECU). I still know some of the staff there and I knew they would take care
of him.
"Personally, I like it
(Erickson's decision).''
Duke, North Carolina and Wake
Forest had also been expressing interest in Erickson, but the Pirates struck
first with an offer.
Erickson hails from a football
family. His father, Kevin, lettered in 1985 as a center at Humboldt State
University, an NCAA Division II school located in Arcata, Calif., and was
also a walk-on player at Colorado.
Kyle Erickson began following
in his father's footsteps when he started playing the game, too, at age 6.
Like his father, he also became an offensive lineman and progressed fast
enough to see varsity action at Jack Britt as a freshman after receiving a
late-season promotion from the junior varsity.
Erickson moved into the
varsity's starting lineup as a sophomore and helped the Buccaneers reach the
state 4-AA Eastern finals. The Bucs made it all the way to the state title
game last season as Erickson earned first-team All-Mid-South 4-A Conference
and All-Cape Fear region honors.
He helped the Buccaneers rack
up a Cumberland County-best 5,422 yards of total offense.
"He's a good player,'' Rimpf
said. "For one, he's aggressive, and that doesn't necessarily come with
size. It's a mentality. As an offensive lineman you have to have that.
"He's also very athletic. He
played basketball for us, so he can move. He's been starting at left tackle
for Jack Britt the last two years. So he's been in a lot of (state) playoff
games and faced good competition. He had tenacity and an aggressiveness on
the field, which our coaches love. He has all the physical traits that they
look for on the Division I level.''
Rimpf predicts Erickson will
be close to the 300-pound mark when he arrives at ECU in 2014.
"He's only ending his junior
year, so he has another year to fill out,'' Rimpf said. "The one thing that
is important to the Division I coaches in their offensive linemen is height.
You can't control how tall people are. You can control how big they get. So
he'll already have the height coming in. He'll start to fill out and by the
time he gets there he'll be pushing 300 pounds.''
The Pirates have recruited
Erickson to play guard or center, positions which he's never played during
his career. But Erickson isn't concerned about having to learn a new spot.
"I think I'll be able to
handle the transition,'' Erickson said. "I've been taking some reps at guard
this spring just to try to get used to it.''
Both players expected to start
at guard for ECU in 2013 — Jordan Davis and Will Simmons — will complete
their eligibility when the season is finished. So will starting left tackle
Adhem Elsawi.
Those losses, and the
departure this spring of last year's right tackle starter, Robert Jones,
will open up plenty of opportunities for playing time when Erickson arrives
on campus.
E-mail Sammy Batten
PAGE UPDATED
04/23/13 04:18 PM.
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